One of FUURT’s long-term advocacy goals was realised when, as part of a more expansive legislative package concerning pensions, the Parliament approved a new law that enables grant recipients to adjust their annual earnings under MYEL insurance (Mela) in the middle of the insurance period.
Earlier legislation only allowed grant recipients to discontinue or terminate their MYEL insurance policy. The adjustment of the annual earnings of grant recipients under MYEL insurance became possible as of 1 January 2024.
In practice, the new law enables for changes to MYEL insurance in situations in which the amount of grant-funded work changes in the middle of the insurance period from full-time to part-time grant-funded work or vice versa. Reasons for grant-funded work to become part-time can include, for example, a part-time family leave during the grant period, the combination of grant funding and part-time gainful employment as well as part-time disability as the result of an illness or accident. The enforced law makes it possible to ensure that the MYEL insurance corresponds better to the actual realised working time.
The most significant change is that the earlier legislation did not allow for a part-time family leave during the grant period. In this respect, the new law is a notable improvement in terms of the social security and equality of those working on grant funding.
The adjustment of annual MYEL earnings during the insurance period is done upon the grant recipient’s own request by application to Mela and requires that the issuer of the grant has given consent for the grant being changed to part time. The adjustment of the annual earnings also requires that the duration of the original grant and insurance period are at least 12 months and that at least one month remains of the insurance period when applying for the change, the change in the grant-funded work input is at least 20% (e.g. a transition from full-time to 80% grant-funded work), and the other prerequisites for MYEL insurance are still met after the change.
More detailed instructions on the adjustment of annual MYEL earnings during the insurance period can be found on Mela’s website (link below).
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